TODAY’S MINI RESOLUTION EXERCISE • WEEK 5

View this post with your graphics in your browser

Welcome to Week 5!
 
It may be the final week of our exercise mini resolution, but we hope it’s not your final week of using exercise as a tool to stave off cognitive decline!
 
Today, we’re taking a look at the importance of staying active through our daily activities.


For questions or assistance, email your Motivated Mondays Coach Michele McCambridge: [email protected]

KEEP GOING!

This year, through Motivated Mondays, CCP is committed to helping you combat cognitive decline, and exercise has been extensively studied as a critical component of any brain health program. This month’s exercise mini resolution presented separate tracks for different exercise routine baselines. For our Track 1 participants, we focused on getting started, overcoming obstacles and staying motivated. For those in Track 2, we focused on intensity and explored three modalities- cardio-respiratory exercise, strength training and mind-body exercises.
 
Importantly, exercise…

• increases brain volume (bigger brains!).
• causes the secretion of myokines from muscles.
• improves blood flow to the brain, bringing with it critical oxygen and nutrients.
• "uses up" excess blood sugar and makes cells more sensitive to insulin.
• improves sleep which combats oxidative neurological stress.
• improves our physiological resilience to stress and anxiety.

 
Here is an interesting look at five things that happen when we stop exercising.

So no matter which track you followed this month, we urge you to keep going! And be sure to check in regularly with your concierge physician to ensure your exercise plan is suitable for you.

RESISTING A SEDENTARY LIFESTYLE

As we’ve discussed over these past few weeks, planned and intentional physical exercise is a critical component of a comprehensive lifestyle program to improve cognitive function and prevent cognitive decline.
 
But today, in our final week of our Exercise Mini Resolution, we’re looking at the other side of the physical activity spectrum, through our Activities of Daily Living—which is just as crucial in our pursuit of building brawny brains and staving off cognitive decline.
 
Physical activity through your Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) is achieved by moving often throughout the day, not just during planned physical activity. Developing an active lifestyle helps to avoid sedentary behavior (defined as sitting for 5-6 or more hours uninterrupted, each day) which comes with its own slew of health problems.
 
Prolonged sitting impairs health by undermining the same physiological functions promoted by exercise. It is important to exercise and interrupt prolonged periods of sitting by standing, walking about or even with “exercise snacks.”
 
STEP COUNTS
 
Exercise scientists have studied step-counts as a practical measure of sedentary behavior (and associated health outcomes) outside of intentional exercise. In other words, step counts help to determine whether our ADLs keep our body in motion or whether we sit for most of the day.
 
Interestingly, even if you intentionally exercise for one hour a day, you are still considered sedentary if your steps are limited on average to about 2,700 steps a day. For example, if you jog five miles a day, i.e., 10,000 steps, but your step count outside that intentional activity is in the 2,700-step range, then you are still considered sedentary.
 
Thus, one can be physically  fit but still be at risk for diseases of a sedentary lifestyle, including but  not limited to cognitive decline. These people, who are “fit but sit,” are  defined as “active couch potatoes.”

DID YOU KNOW?
 
It is frequently cited that a daily dose of 10,000 steps is ideal for health promotion and disease prevention. Walking 10,000 steps is roughly equal to 5 miles and about 500 calories.
 
But you may be surprised to learn that metric was developed for a marketing strategy in 1965 to sell a pedometer called Manpo-Kei—translated to the “10,000 steps meter.”
 
For our purposes here, the minimal step count for reducing dementia risk was assessed in a 2022 prospective study to be 3,826 steps per day and the optimal dose was 9,826 steps per day.

Now that we know a little bit more about counting our steps, how can we make sure to move even more? Below are some ideas for stepping up your step count and create opportunities for “exercise snacks”:
 
In general:

• Restrict TV time to the amount of time you exercise each day. For example, if you exercise for one hour, allow yourself only one hour of TV at a time.
• Stand or walk around when speaking on the phone.
• Do your own housecleaning or gardening. (And save money as a bonus!)
• Walk the dog the long way home. (Fun fact: Studies show dog owners live longer and have lower BP, cholesterol and triglycerides!)
• Take your coffee break outside and go for a quick stroll, weather permitting.
• Get off the couch at each commercial break.
• Golfing? Skip the cart and walk the course.
• Go shopping in-person rather than online.
• Plan a day that involves walking such as visiting a museum, an art gallery, a flea market or a street fair, etc.

 
Getting around:

• Get off the bus or subway one stop early and walk the rest of the way to your destination.
• Walk errands.
• Take the stairs down, elevator up.
• Don’t use the drive-through window. Instead, park and walk inside.
• Park as far away from the store door as possible.

 
At work (if you are working in an office setting):

• Use the printer/copier farthest from your desk.
• Walk to your coworkers’ desks, rather than call or email them.
• Set a timer to go off every 20 minutes to stand up and walk around.
• Get out of the office for at least 20 minutes each day to walk outside (this is a great mental health break, too!).

 
If you are interested in monitoring your daily step count, here are some top-rated pedometers to consider.

That concludes our mini resolution! We’ll see you next week for a brand new mini resolution that is sure to help you stave of cognitive decline and build a brawnier brain!
 
We’d love to hear from you! Email Coach Michele ([email protected]) with your feedback.